May 14, 2013. The Boone Area Planning Commission met Monday night and among the agenda items was a petition that Appalachian Mountain Brewery filed to allow an outdoor observation bar to the rear of the lot and to allow independent food trucks to operate within the development.

Photo by Ken Ketchie

The Planning Commission voted 7-1 to allow the outdoor deck and independent food trucks to operate on site. Now the request moves to the Boone Town Council on Tuesday, May 21.

The lone nay voter was Jeff Templeton.

On Tuesday morning, he explained his reasoning.

“What was [initially] approved was a brewery with a tasting room. What it is turning into is a restaurant with a bar and that location isn’t designed or well suited for a restaurant with a bar and my concerns were increased demand for parking would spill over and become a problem for adjacent businesses,” Templeton said. “If Chile’s had applied to put a restaurant on the site, they would have been turned down. But we have is a brewery that turned into a bar and now turned into a restaurant with 88 seats in the dining room.”

Templeton said he wasn’t accusing them of an “ulterior motives” but that the development has evolved from being just a brewery with a tasting room.

“That’s why we have zoning regulations,” he added. “Everything doesn’t just belong everywhere.”

On the Appalachian Mountain Brewery Facebook page was a post following the vote that read, “Success…”